Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Saturday said Bangladesh has become an “eyesore” for some due to its good position strategically, and the real purpose is to try and reap benefits by putting pressure as the issue of human rights is not the real purpose.
“The real purpose is not human rights. The real purpose is not even disappearances or murders. The real purpose is to see whether they can reap some benefits from these pressures,” he said, adding that the government does not want to see a single case of disappearance or any murder.
While talking to reporters after attending a program in the city, the Foreign Minister said: “there is no word for an enforced disappearance in the country. We don't want to see anyone taken away by force. We want everyone to be gone by the law.”
Momen mentioned that Bangladesh is surrounded by some big countries and its access to the sea has become a big concern for them.
He said there had been some accidents in which they did not get proper information and there is no such thing as enforced disappearance in the country. “Sometimes different terrorist groups do this. It happens in all the countries of the world, more or less. We have the least here compared to other countries,” the minister added.
Responding to a question, Momen said foreigners say that Bangladesh is becoming the tail of China and Bangladesh is falling into the debt trap of China like Sri Lanka.“If you want to get into a debt trap, you have to take out a 40% loan. Our country's total debt is just over 15% or about 16%. Still far away,” Momen said.
He said if they look at the countries and the institutions, they have borrowed the most from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the IMF while the next most borrowed from Japan. “Our borrowing from China is not even close to just over 5%,” he said
Momen said some ignorant people say Bangladesh is becoming the tail of China because 80% of Bangladesh’s military equipment is bought from China.
“This is a blatant lie. What we purchase, we purchase from all countries. We purchase from everywhere. India also wants to give us. Our military knows what to purchase,” he added.